Quality of Turkish Online Information on Antibiotic Use in Periodontal Treatment: A Web-Based Analysis

Objective: To evaluate the reliability, quality and infodemiological profile of online in-formation on antibiotic use in periodontal disease treatment in Turkiye. Materials and Methods: Six Turkish search terms related to periodontal antibiotics were queried in Google and Yandex in March 2026. After deduplication and eligibility scree-ning, 116 webpages were analysed. Reliability was assessed using Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks, information quality using DISCERN and Global Quality Scale (GQS), and clinical alignment using a periodontal antibiotic stewardship check-list based on contemporary periodontal guidance. Readability was estimated with the Ates-man index. Group comparisons were performed using Kruskal-Wallis and chi-square tests. Results: The median DISCERN score was 38.0 (IQR: 31.0-48.0), and 64.7% of webpa-ges were classified as poor or very poor. The median JAMA score was 1.0 (IQR: 1.0-2.0), with attribution present in 19.0% and currency in 28.4%. Professional/university websites had hig-her DISCERN scores than private clinic websites (52.0 vs 36.0; p<0.001) and greater guideline alignment (6.0 vs 3.0; p<0.001). Only 21.6% required clinical evaluation before antibiotics, whereas 34.5% implied that antibiotics could independently treat gingival or periodontal inf-lammation. Antimicrobial resistance was mentioned in 27.6% of webpages. Higher search rank was weakly associated with lower DISCERN scores (rho=-0.24; p=0.010). Conclusion: Turkish online information on periodontal antibiotic use was highly visib-le but clinically uneven. Most webpages lacked transparent sourcing, risk communication and stewardship-oriented messages. These findings may help Turkish dental regulatory bodies and professional organizations develop standardized, search-visible public guidance on peri-odontal antibiotic use.